SIALKOT: Assistant Collector of Model Customs Collectorate, Sialktot Chaudhary Fahad Bashir chaired a meeting of the customs officials on Wednesday evening.
Customs officials told Customs Today that Chairman Sialkot Dry Port Khawar Anwar Khawaja, President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry Majid Raza Bhutta and others participated in the meeting. Collector Ahmed Reza Khan presided over the meeting.
The matters discussed in the meeting included temporary imports cleared in WeBOC and exported in One Customs caused problems for manufacturers. He said that the problems forced the business community to shift to Karachi where import and export are carried out in WeBOC. The Export transshipment (TP) of Less Container Load cargo is routed through other airports in Pakistan. He said that load is not more than 2 to 2.5 tons so it has to be transported through smaller vehicles such as Hino Trucks with mounted boxes.
He said that the stuffing cargo into containers and transporting is not economically feasible while conveyances with permanently mounted boxes are registered with customs preventive, Karachi. Collector said that the current nomenclature is serial wise and If it changed to match labeling of containers of shipping lines, it can be accommodated in WeBOC system. Ahmed Raza vowed that the consolidation of cargo by destination is not possible at SDPT since cargo volume by destinations is less than container load. The most exporters from Sialkot fall in SME-Small Medium Enterprises sector so export cargo cannot be expected to wait till a Full Container Load (FCL) by destination is achieved.
Collector said that this causes unnecessary delays leading to higher freight costs and demurrage thus increasing the cost of doing business through SDPT. The fast track cargo has to be moved once load increases between 3 and 4 tons which is again less than a container load. Since cargo cannot be kept waiting due to urgency of shipment so smaller conveyances have to be used he added.
He said that the transshipment GD amendment is not allowed for imports which mean that cargo clearance has to be effected through One Customs. He said that LCL cargo processing provides better clearance coverage since more cargo is examined physically so LCL cargo processing should be encouraged in place of consolidation for Full Container Load (FCL). As export clearance shifts to Karachi, local exporters will face new challenges including clearance related issue resolution at Karachi and not at Sambrial, while the latter is more accessible.
He added that most exporters from Sialkot are from SME sector so their cost of doing business, in terms of cargo clearance at Karachi, will increase costs of inputs and make them less competitive in the international market.
He said that the security management module has problems included that temporary imported material GDs do not show up in security management. Problem needs to be rectified so that reconciliation can be effected smoothly. There may be an increase in system rigor but policies should not be designed to discourage institutions, legitimate trade particularly SME sector.
